Critique of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition

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The WAIS-IV standardization sample was aligned to the estimated demographic make-up of the United States based upon projections from the US Census (Benson, et al., 2010). As a Canadian normative score sample was also generated, Harrison et al. compared it with the American one using a sample of 432 Canadian college students who had been referred for evaluation of “psycho-educational or neuropsychological evaluation of learning and/or attention problems.” As can be explained, Canadian adults 65 and under obtain higher WAIS-IV raw scores than their American counterparts. And, though Canadian and American scores are “very highly correlated, systematically lower scores were obtained when using Canadian norms,” pointing to concerns in the way Canadian normative data was obtained. The Canadian normalization extension contained 688 participants and was superimposed over the American normative data curve, assuming that Canadian results would sufficiently adhere to the same curve shape. An apparent byproduct is isolated demographic skewing (e.g., 16 to 17 year olds are disproportionately ethnically diverse and well educated, 18 to 24 year olds were disproportionately Asians, and the ethnic make-up across multiple age groups does not neatly adhere to the Canadian census results). This exaggerates low scores for individuals whose FSIQ scores fell below 100 or who were under the age of 29, resulting in possible over-diagnosis of intellectual disability for Canadian participants in these groups (Harrison, 2014). This reality should offer clinicians pause if working with immigrants coming from outside of Anglo-America or if considering using WAIS-IV internationally (Harrison, 2014).

Conclusion

WAIS-IV is evaluated as a superb instrument for evaluating the intelligence of native-born Americans and will aid clinicians in determining whether they experience normal cognitive or intellectual functioning as compared to their peers.

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References

Benson, N., Hulac, D. M., & Kranzler, J. H. (2010, March). Independent Examination of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV): What Does the WAIS-IV Measure? Psychological Assessment, pp. 121-130.

Canivez, G. L. (2010). Test review of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition. In R. A. Spies, J. F. Carlson, & K. F. Geisinger (Eds.), The eighteenth mental measurements yearbook. Retrieved from http://marketplace.unl.edu/buros/ .

Harrison, A. G. (2014, December 1). Comparing Canadian and American normative scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition. Archives of clinical neuropsychology, pp. 737-746.

Schraw, G. (2010). Test review of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition. In R. A. Spies, J. F. Carlson, & K. F. Geisinger (Eds.), The eighteenth mental measurements yearbook. Retrieved from http://marketplace.unl.edu/buros/ .

Spies, R. A., Carlson, J. F., & Geisinger (Eds.), K. F. (n.d.). The eighteenth mental measures yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. Retrieved from http://marketplace.unl.edu/buros.